The present invention relates to a flocked fabric that retains characteristics typically attributed to fabrics used in upholstery and yet is suitable for outdoor use as a worn garment. When used as hunter's outerwear, the fabric is quiet, camouflaged by its colorful pattern, wind-resistant, water-resistant, abrasion-resistant, drapeable, burr retention resistant and preferably treated with a scent-inhibiting chemical. As a result, the fabric serves as a washable apparel item, which will neither be seen, heard nor smelled by prey. By flattening the flock directionally into a laid down condition and thermally setting the flock in that condition, the laid down flock provides a natural water repellent and substantially flat surface onto which may be printed a colorful pattern or solid color. Solid color may be achieved by stock dyeing flock and/or piece dyeing. The colorful pattern or solid color appears crisp and well-defined without distortion.
Transfer printing onto flattened flocked surfaces is known in the upholstery trade where the flocked surfaces are atop a woven backing. The relatively harsh backing is unsuitable for apparel because it is not particularly drapeable. Further, the harsh backing is rough to the touch and therefore noisy in that it rustles appreciably if rubbed against itself or other objects. If outerwear contained such backing and were worn by hunters trying to elude anisemal prey, such a rustling noise would be detrimental to the hunter's effort at being evasive. It would therefore be desirable to soften such backing or select one less noisy.
Transfer printing onto flocked surfaces for blankets and apparel has been revealed by earlier patents of one of the present inventors, that is, U.S. pat. Nos. 4,895,748 and 5,059,452, both of whose contents are incorporated herein by reference. However, those patents teach about foamed knitted fabrics, such as those which include a flocked polyurethane foam with flattened fibers which are color printed. Such foamed knitted fabrics have excellent insulating properties but have relatively poor abrasion resistance. The present inventors have made some observations.
In general, foam has a low abrasion point and has been known to crumble when exposed to extremes of humidity and heat over extended periods of time. Further, foam may break down when subjected to strong caustic chemicals or dry cleaning.
When used in outerwear, the foam should be secured to a stretchable backing, such as a knitted substrate, to improve the stretch of the fabric to make use of its comfort characteristics. Foam is somewhat permeable and therefore limited in its ability to provide wind-resistance. Foam retains water that renders a fabric somewhat bulky and less drapeable than is the case without it.
A hunter's outerwear plays an important role in the success or failure of the hunt. Hunters do not want to be seen, heard or smelled by their prey. Hunters prefer their outerwear to blend in with their surroundings rather than stand out.
If the appearance of hunter's outerwear contrasts markedly with the environment, the prey may notice the contrast and become startled and dart away. For this reason, a camouflage pattern is preferred to blend in with the surroundings. Depending upon the.type of fabric to which the pattern is applied, the realism, coloring and crispness in definition of the pattern will vary. Ideally, the surface of the fabric should not distort the pattern or otherwise take away from the realism of the camouflage.
For instance, if the fabric is knitted or woven, the texture of its surface structure will distort the camouflage pattern or otherwise take away from the realism, crispness or definition. A fabric composed of plastic, on the other hand, has a surface structure which would not distort the pattern.
Unfortunately, many fabrics whose surface structure will not distort color patterns are noisy in that as the hunter moves about or approaches prey, the fabric makes noises which may scare away the nearby prey within earshot.
For instance, the conventional bright orange plastic raincoat poncho may satisfy the visibility level for orange color required for safety purposes outdoors and further is waterproof. Nevertheless, such a poncho is too noisy for most hunters. It does a hunter little good to appear invisible to prey if the outerwear is so noisy as the hunter approaches that the prey scares off. Indeed, prey may frighten based on what they hear rather than on what they actually see.
Knitted or brushed woven fabrics, on the other hand, are more quiet as the hunter moves about. This is attributed to their surface structure being soft to the touch, rather than rough, so that when rubbed against itself, little if any noise is heard. Nevertheless, the surface structure of the knitted or brush woven fabric, as mentioned previously, distorts the realism of the pattern printed on it.
A nuisance associated with the wearing of conventional outerwear is that the fabric material may pick up burrs, leaves, sticktights, thistles, plant-life originated "hitchhikers", etc. in the outdoors which cling or stick to the fabric (the matter picked up will collectively be referred to hereafter as "burr(s)"). As a consequence, the fabric becomes noisy; removing the burrs from the fabric is a time-consuming task, because each burr must be pulled off the outerwear individually. The task becomes more difficult to accomplish while in the outdoors because the outerwear is being worn at the time and, while the wearer could take time out to clean the outerwear of the burrs if so motivated, inevitably more burrs will be picked up again. Thus, pulling out the burrs individually is a never ending, time consuming and frustrating process to perform. To a hunter, burr retention is more than just a nuisance; any additional noise generated by the outerwear, such as that attributed to the retention of burrs, increases the risk of frightening prey that are within earshot.
Untreated outerwear, when worn, eventually picks up the smell or body odor of its wearer. If downwind of the hunter, prey, which has a keen sense of smell, may pick up the scent given off by such outerwear. Thus, even if the outerwear is quiet and camouflaged, such precautions against being noticed by the prey are defeated if the hunter's scent is picked up by the prey from the outerwear.
Scent inhibiting chemicals for fabrics are available commercially, such as that sold under the trademark ULTRAFRESH.TM.. Therefore, the fabric of the outerwear should be treated with such scent inhibiting chemicals. In this manner, the scent retention problem in outerwear goes away. When a quiet fabric is so treated and camouflaged, the wearer is neither seen, heard or smelled downwind by the prey.
Of course, the outerwear should also be made for comfort. In this connection, the outerwear fabric preferably should be drapable, washable, water resistant, wind resistant, abrasion resistant and burr retention resistant. Further, the fabric should be pleasant to the touch and not be bulky. Also, the fabric should not shrink excessively when subjected to a commercial dyeing process or home wash and dry, but the outerwear should be moisture permeable and breathable.
Tests have been developed to determine the extent to which a fabric is deemed water resistant, water repellant, abrasion resistant and stiff. The American National Standard AATCC test method 35-1994, as set forth on pages 89-90 of the AATCC Technical Manual, exemplifies a water resistance test. Basically, a fabric test specimen, backed by a weighed blotter, is sprayed with water for five minutes under controlled conditions. The blotter is reweighed to determine the amount of water which has leaked through the specimen during the test. This test is an accepted indicator of the resistance of fabrics to the penetration of water by impact, and thus can be used to predict the probable rain penetration resistance of fabrics.
Also AATCC Test Method 42-1989 is used as an impact penetration test to measure water resistance. Basically, 500 milliliters of water is poured from a height of 2 feet through an impact penetration tester against the surface of the test specimen, which had a blotter behind it that had been weighed prior to testing. The blotter is then removed and reweighed. The increase in the weight of the blotter is calculated. The lower the numerical weight calculation of the increase, the better the water resistance. The best result is 0.0, which signifies no penetration of the water to the blotter.
A hydrostatic pressure test is also used to measure water resistance according to AATCC Test Method 127-1989. An 8".times.8" fabric test specimen is placed in a hydrostatic pressure tester. Water at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit is placed on top of the specimen and the height of the water is raised 1 centimeter per second until three droplets of water can be seen on the underside of the specimen. The height of the water is measured; the higher the height, the better the water resistance.
A suitable measure of water repellency is a spray test according to AATCC Test Method 22-1989. Basically, 250 milliliters of distilled water is poured through an AATCC spray tester over each fabric sample. An AATCC spray tester is a 6" glass lab funnel with a spray head attached by a 3/8" rubber tubing. The funnel is held by a metal ring on a ring support six inches above the sample, which is mounted at a 45 degree angle with the use of a metal embroidered hoop. Results are obtained by observing an AATCC spray test rating chart against the tested sample. The higher the rating number, the better the water repellency.
Accepted abrasion tests are the taber test according to ASTM D-3884-92, which tests the abrasion resistance when the fabric is dry and when the fabric is wet, and the dry scuff test. These tests provide an indication as to the likelihood of the fabric abrading during normal wear and tear and during washing. The scuff test employs an apparatus having a weighted arm that presses a metal disc into the face side of fabric. The face side of a fabric, which is supported over a pad of latex foam rubber is rubbed under controlled conditions, by the edge of the metal disc. The test is intended to assess the tendency of all types of cut or non-loop pile upholstery to lose substantially complete lengths of pile from the surface of the fabric. To the extent that this tendency generally requires a harsh abrasive force from a relatively keen edged object, it often relates to minor unspecified abuse of the upholstery.
The taber test according to ASTM D 3884-92 involves abrading a fabric specimen using rotary rubbing action under controlled conditions of pressure and abrasive action. The test specimen, mounted on a platform, turns on a vertical axis, against the sliding rotation of two abrading wheels. One abrading wheel rubs the specimen outward toward the periphery and the other inward toward the center. The resulting abrasion marks form a pattern of crossed arcs over an area of approximately 30 Cm.sup.2. Resistance to abrasion is evaluated by various means.
A suitable fabric stiffness test is done pursuant to Method 5206 (Jul. 20, 1978) according to the Federal Test Method Standard No. 191 A. A one inch wide sample of fabric is slid toward the edge of the testing apparatus until one end drops to a 41/2 degree angle. The distance of the hanging portion over the edge is measured. The longer the distance measured, the stiffer the sample.
Another suitable stiffness test is done in accordance with a deflection test, in which a 11/2" strip in the warp direction is cut on the strip cutter from a random area of the coated or uncoated material, avoiding a cut too close to either edge. The test sample should be on 0" to 10" full width strip from the mill or master roll. Using a 2" platform on a test bench or desk, place a ruler on the desk top touching the base of the platform on one end. Take the 8".times.11/2" strip and place it coated or uncoated side up on the top of the platform. If coated, peel the release liner from the adhesive, being careful not to bend or distort the coated substrate. For either coated or uncoated material, slide the strip over the ruler end of the platform. Pressing it flat insures that the deflection distance is at its maximum and that the test is accurate. When the leading edge of the strip touches the ruler, read and record the number of inches. This is the deflection distance. The result should be compared to a standard or the historical specimen material.
The outerwear may be exposed to extremes of outdoor temperatures such as temperatures below the freezing point of water. Such frigid temperature conditions may occur unexpectedly and rapidly in some wilderness areas either during the night or from sudden wind chill in mountainous areas. Preferably, the constituents of the flocked outerwear should withstand such temperature extremes without becoming stiff or otherwise causing discomfort to the wearer while moving about.
Many conventional thin fabrics, with color printed upon, normally bleed the colors through, making it commercially impractical to print on the bled through side. Examples of such fabrics include woven polycotton, which is used in outerwear for the hunting trade. Thicker fabrics can be used that allow printing on both sides without bleeding the colors through, but such fabrics are obviously heavier, bulkier and generally less cost competitive to use in the mass production of outerwear than thinner fabrics.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a lightweight outerwear fabric which helps the hunter from being seen, heard or smelled by prey. It would also be desirable to provide an outerwear fabric useful for other applications, such as rainwear or for use at outdoor sporting events and activities, and which provides the outward appearance of distortion-free color crispness and yet is abrasion resistant and washable. It would further be desirable to employ a fabric that lends itself to color printing on both the front and back without the color bleeding through, and yet allows the fabric substrate to be relatively thin.